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Opened in 2000 as Regal Channelside 9 Cinemas. The complex is located in the Channelside Mall shopping district near downtown Tampa. An IMAX installation was later added for a total of 10 screens. Featuring digital sound and stadium seating when first opened, all cinemas have now been converted to digital projection. 35mm film is no longer projected but unsure if IMAX is film or digital projection. Regal no longer operates or owns this venue. Howard Edelman is currently listed as the president and director of Channelside Cinemas 10.

During its Regal days, the IMAX at Channelside was THEE best movie experience in Tampa…recall seeing the likes of Batman Begins, Superman Returns, Matrix Revolutions, Robots and The Polar Express along with several IMAX 3D features. I recall it also showing a lot of independent films at one point. I made an effort to see ‘Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust’ theatrically here, which was a great experience!

Went back there to see Megamind so my kids could experience true IMAX only to discover it got turned into a “Sony Giant Screen”…they charged the same IMAX price and the picture barely filled 60% of the heldover IMAX screen, I was SO dissapointed. Hate to say this, but it comes as no surprise it is closed, that Channelside shopping plaza is dying a slow death.

I approached the shopping center a few days after the theatre closed and offered to reopen it within a few days for them. They declined citing that the theatre was in bankruptcy court and Sony wanted to remove their projectors. Sadly, this may be the end.

They would rather tie up the court system and not get a dime.. The center is not only suing the theater operator, but is in default in excess of 400 million themselves.

Really the location being stadium already and digital only required some deep cleaning, maintenance and attitude change with some marketing and proper management team could have made a marginal profit.

I would love to have gotten involved with this location as General Manager and done some cool things to bring it back to life!

Didn’t Regal originally run it as an arthouse? I remember they got a lot of bookings from smaller distributors like Strand Releasing when they first opened (where they splitting product with someone else?).

I recall Regal booking art films on at least one if not more screens towards the beginning. But whether or not it was their intention to split art film product with another theatre I can’t say although you can be certain it wasn’t the Tampa Theatre. When Channelside first opened in 2000 an article was published in the Tribune on the opening of the new Channelside Cinemas. Regal’s management said they would be in contact with the Tampa Theatre’s director/film booker to work together in booking art and foreign films. Regal stated it wasn’t their intention or desire to compete nor steal away neither the Tampa’s art films or its audience.

Several days later a letter from the Tampa Theatre’s director appeared in the Tribune’s “letter to the editor” column stating that Regal had never contacted him nor did he expect them to. He stated that Regal’s only concern is monetary and that the new theatre’s close proximity to Tampa Theatre could very well be a serious threat to the Tampa’s existence. He cited a similiar situation had occured in another city when that city’s only historic theatre was forced to close due to competition from a new multiplex that had opened nearby. Warning that the threat was very real, the tone of his letter displayed a bit of animosity towards Regal. And today we know who the survivor is.

Stuck in Limbo until probably September 2013… the port authority is dragging with perspective new plaza owners.. most electronics were stripped from the building, but Seats, Screens and Sound Systems are still in place, but need a good cleaning.. already wired for digital but needs equipment brought back in.

Lobby and First appearance look good, but I am sure that there is a lot of small broken things that have been neglected based on reviews from the last few years about the previous management!

You don’t take out your frustrations on customers if you are having issues with your landlord! enough said!

Shocking that a state of the art IMAX and stadium theater could close so soon! I enjoyed several films down there in the early 2000s, including Gladiator (2000)in IMAX, and the 20th anniversary of ET (2002).

I opened the Channelside in 2000 and the IMAX screen shortly after (in early 2001). It did start off as pure art as competition with the (then) Muvico 20 in Ybor (a few blocks away) was seen as too strong to compete with.

That slowly changed as we cultivated a family-friendly following at Channelside. Eventually, we began playing all films (art and mainstream). As IMAX began bringing big Hollywood pictures to their screens, we worked to promote Channelside as a destination for bigger than life event films (including hosting giant convention-style lobby events around the release of big movies).

Shortly after I left the build in 2004, the management contract was changed and a progression of owners/managers tried all sorts of non-traditional ideas to make it work (including ice shop, pizza parlor, bar, club bookings, etc).

In 2014, the Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) is working to open her back up for their March 2015 festival event. This group specializes in pop-up venues, so this will NOT be a re-opening, but simply a single event. Even so, it will be good to see the old girl up and running (even if only for a single weekend).